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Denzil Douglas

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The Right Honourable
Denzil Douglas
2nd Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis
In office
6 July 1995 – 18 February 2015
MonarchElizabeth II
Governors GeneralClement Arrindell
Cuthbert Sebastian
Edmund Lawrence
Preceded byKennedy Simmonds
Succeeded byTimothy Harris
Personal details
Born (1953-01-14) 14 January 1953 (age 71)
Saint Paul Capisterre, British Leeward Islands, (now Saint Kitts and Nevis)
Political partySaint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party
Alma materUniversity of the West Indies at Cave Hill

Denzil Llewellyn Douglas (born 14 January 1953) is the longest-serving Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis, in office from 1995 to 2015. Subsequently he has been Leader of the Opposition. He is the leader of the Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP).[1]

Biography

Early life and pre-political career

Born on 14 January 1953[2] in the village of St. Pauls, Douglas studied medicine as a young man. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in 1977 and a Degree in Medicine in 1984 from the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill.[3] In 1986 he established a private medical practice as a family physician and served as President of the St. Kitts-Nevis Medical Association in the late 1980s.[2]

Political life

Douglas was elected M.P. for St. Christopher (No.6) ward (Newton Ground, St. Paul's, Dieppe Bay, Saddlers, and Harris) in the National Assembly of Saint Kitts and Nevis in 1989 and appointed Leader of the Opposition. That year he was also elected leader of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party after some internal wrangling for the leadership between himself and the then incumbent political leader Sir Lee L Moore. This internal feud was after Sir Lee L Moore had lost his seat in constituency number 4.

He restructured the party in preparation for its 1995 electoral victory. He was appointed Prime Minister of the Federation in 1995, re-appointed Prime Minister in March 2000 and again in October 2004 after the Labour Party won a third term with seven of the eight seats on St. Kitts. The Labour Party won its fourth consecutive term in office on 25 January 2010, winning six of the eight seats on St Kitts in the eleven-member National Assembly.

Political Controversies

In 2014, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an Advisory to alert financial institutions that certain foreign individuals were abusing the Citizenship-by-Investment program sponsored by the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis (SKN) led by the Denzil Douglas Administration to obtain SKN passports for the purpose of engaging in illicit financial activity. As a result of these lax controls, illicit actors, including individuals intending to use the secondary citizenship to evade sanctions, can obtain an SKN passport with relative ease.[4] These events led to the United States revoking his visa.[5]

Appeal court ruled that Denzil Douglas must vacate seat in Parliament

On Thursday 12 March, 2020, the Government of St Kitts-Nevis Information Services SKNIS [6] reported in a Press release that The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) of Appeal in Castries, Saint Lucia, in a judgment handed down on, March 12, 2020, ruled that Dr. Denzil Douglas, Leader of the St. Kitts and Nevis Opposition Labour Party and Parliamentary Representative for St. Christopher Six, must VACATE his seat in the National Assembly with immediate effect over the issue of a Dominican diplomatic passport that had been granted to him by Dominica. Chief Justice, the Hon. Dame Janice M. Pereira, made the following conclusion: [7]

"The cumulative effect of my conclusions is that Dr. Douglas, by his application for, receipt and use of a Dominican diplomatic passport, placed him in clear breach of section 28(1)(a) of the Constitution. As a matter of law, the consequence in the terms of section 33(3)(c) follows. That consequence is that, Dr. Douglas is required to vacate his seat in the National Assembly in Saint Christopher and Nevis,” [8]


Detainment at Gatwick Airport London

On 16 November 2019, The Mail on Sunday reported Douglas was detained at Gatwick Airport by the UK's Border Force. The Officers seized the equivalent of more than £70,000 – in sterling, US dollars and eastern Caribbean dollars – from him when he could not explain why he was attempting to leave the country with the cash. It was said he was the subject of a probe by the National Crime Agency.[9]

Appointment to Privy Council

In 2011, Douglas was appointed to Her Majesty’s Privy Council, with the prefix "Right Honourable" added to his name.[10][11][12]

Today, after some 30 years at the helm, Dr Denzil has not put in place a succession plan for new leadership of the SKLP. His political career, since leaving office as Prime Minister in 2015, has been riled with scandal after scandal. The latest scandal being where the current Prime minister Dr Timothy Harris has read into the Hansard in parliament that Dr Denzil Douglas is the holder of a foreign diplomatic passport which is in violation of the St Kitts and Nevis' constitution.[13]

Laptops for high school students

In 2011, Douglas was responsible for the OLPC (One Laptop per Child) program, which provided 2,000 free laptops per year from Taiwan to high school students.[14]

Post-premiership

After losing the 2015 general election he has remained active in politics as leader of the opposition.[15]

Honours

References

  1. ^ Puddington, Arch; Piano, Aili; Eiss, Camille; Roylance, Tyler; Neubauer, Katrina (2008-08-01). Freedom in the World 2008: The Annual Survey of Political Rights & Civil Liberties. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780742563063.
  2. ^ a b East, Roger; Richard Thomas (2003). "Denzil Douglas". Profiles of people in power: the world's government leaders (Google book search) (1st ed.). London: Europa. pp. 439–440. ISBN 978-1-85743-126-1. LCCN 2004297732. OCLC 52634735. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  3. ^ "Denzil Douglas Biography - Began Political Career Early, Experienced Troubled Political Times, Won a Landslide Victory, Won a Third Term". 2009. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  4. ^ "FinCEN Advisory – FIN-2014-A004". US Treasury Department. Retrieved 2018-10-04. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  5. ^ Limited, Jamaica Observer. "Report: US confirms revocation of Denzil Douglas' diplomatic visa". Jamaica Observer. Retrieved 2018-10-04. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  6. ^ https://www.sknis.gov.kn/2020/03/12/eastern-caribbean-supreme-court-of-appeal-rules-that-dr-denzil-douglas-must-vacate-seat-in-parliament-immediately/
  7. ^ https://www.eccourts.org/the-attorney-general-of-saint-christopher-and-nevis-v-dr-denzil-douglas-3/
  8. ^ https://www.sknvibes.com/news/newsdetails.cfm/111952
  9. ^ "Dr. Douglas Under Investigation After Trying to Leave UK with $92,000 in Cash". The St Kitts Nevis Observer. 8 December 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  10. ^ "Prime Minister Douglas appointed to Her Majesty's Privy Council". Office of the Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis. 2011-11-18. Archived from the original on 2012-04-15. Retrieved 2021-01-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  11. ^ JCPC (1995). "Privy Council Members". Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Archived from the original on 2008-12-24. Retrieved 21 June 2010.
  12. ^ "Winn FM (St. Kitts Nevis) News: SKN Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas appointed to Privy Council". stkittsweb.com. Archived from the original on 2018-06-16. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  13. ^ http://www.myvuenews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29623:astaphan-questions-douglas-status&catid=42:rokstories&Itemid=109
  14. ^ "Taiwan Begins Laptop Programme for Students in St Kitts and Nevis". Caribbean Journal. 2012-02-27. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  15. ^ Kelly, Seb (1 November 2017). "Harris has left St Kitts and Nevis 'thick with hopelessness', says Douglas". WIC News. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  16. ^ "St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister receives "Order of Propitious Clouds" in Taiwan". Office of the Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis. 2011-03-10. Retrieved 2021-01-19 – via SKNList.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
Political offices
Preceded by Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis
1995–2015 		Succeeded by
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